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March 10 - America is the land that personal responsibility forgot. If you don't feel that you should ever be culpable for your own actions then this is the country for you! You're fat? That's not your fault. Blame the companies that sell food. Your kid is stupid? That's not his fault. He must have a disease known as A.D.D. You're a gambling addict who cannot stop? Blame the casinos for not stopping you and then sue them for this oversight to the tune of $20 million.
Arelia Taveras has filed a very interesting, and hopefully spurious lawsuit that attempts to blame her bankruptcy on seven casinos. Taveras was a high-profile New York lawyer who stole money from her own clients, lost her home, her parents' home, and still owes money to the IRS, all in the name of feeding her compulsive gambling addiction.
She still faces criminal charges and says that she contemplated suicide (if she had shot herself she could have blamed the gun company for that one) as she ran up gambling debts of more than $1 million during non-stop sessions at the tables that sometimes lasted as long as 5 days. She thinks that it is the casino's duty to cut her off and send her home. By that logic alcoholics should sue the owners of every bar they got drunk in, and maybe they do in the USA. It wouldn't surprise me.
What happened to Taveras is pretty common in land based casinos. It is estimated that there are at least five million compulsive gamblers in the USA, and that number is probably a lot higher since this is one addiction that people either refuse to admit they have, or honestly don't think they have. It doesn't impact your physical condition, so unlike being drunk or high it may be difficult to tell that you have a gambling problem, that is until you lose your house and job.
It is not as common for this to happen in online casinos where strict deposit limits are set, and players are closely monitored in case they display the typical signs of addiction. Many reputable online casino operators work closely with organizations that deal with compulsive gamblers - organizations that don't exactly have a high profile on your typical billion dollar Vegas casino floor.
It is also interesting to note that while online gambling is demonized as a cause of problem gambling this is clearly flase logic. In states like New Jersey, where online gambling is illegal so that the monoploy enjoyed by the land based casinos remains entrenched, compulsive gambling thrives. If online casinos were regulated it would actually help to contain this addiction precisely because it would be easier to track individual players and see exactly what they are depositing and spending.
That being said there has to be personal responsibility at some level in life. No one held a gun to this woman's head and forced her to lose a million dollars playing blackjack. The fact that one person doesn't have the self-restraint or ability to stop when it is no longer entertainment also does not mean that the rest of the world should be deprived of the right to gamble. It is once again the same argument that could be used with alcohol consumption.
"Gamble responsibly" is the well-worn phrase we've all heard a million times before. It is an imperative aimed at the individual not at the operator who supplies the games. Good luck with that lawsuit, because you'll need a ridiculous amount of it to convince anyone sane and intelligent of its merits.
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